Tag Archives: conventions

I have a reading/Kindle party coming up on Sept. 8th at the Soundry. I’ve decided that instead of picking a different passage to read than I did on Jellyvision, I’m going to read the first chapter of the sequel. This means I have to have it done, edited, and be reasonably sure that it’s really the way I want it by September. With almost 2 months to do it, I’m not too worried it will get done.

I need to do a lot more self-promotion. This really doesn’t come naturally to me. I feel downright silly calling places on my own behalf. But I need to start booking conventions soon.

Had my very 1st book signing yesterday at Prospero’s! I only sold 4 books, but what a learning experience!

I got a lot of practice talking about & pitching the book. Unfortunately, it was after the guy from 88.5 stuck a microphone with a tape recorder in my face. Asking the vampire novelist about the upcoming civil war festivities in town was probably not the best idea for a good sound byte, but there was nothing else going on that early in the afternoon.

Sadly, I can’t think that fast on my feet. Even when I’m sitting down. =) Pretty sure that my unrehearsed babble is not going to make it on the air (I didn’t even remember to mention the NAME of my book! *sigh*), but it reinforced the need for a pre-prepared talking points.

Hubby stayed with me the whole time, so during the many lulls he asked me lots of questions. Hopefully the next time I get interviewed with no notice I won’t sound like a complete idiot! Although to be fair to myself, it could have been much worse. At least I remembered to mention my website this time.

I now have a much better idea of what to do & to expect for future signings. Going to try & get to a lot of conventions this year, I think I’d be a lot more successful in that sort of venue.

So my goal is to do at least one thing for the book every day. Today I updated my author posting on kindleboards.com. Yeah, not the most productive day so far. I’m waiting to hear back from the marketing people at my publishing company. They still owe me promo materials, as well as some much-needed marketing advice.

On the upside of things, my wonderful hubby reminded me that if I do a book tour in NY, I can write all the travel expenses off as business expenses. Yay! Of course, this is only really useful if I actually make enough money on the book that I can use the tax write-off! But still makes the trip seem more affordable and justifiable. Ultimately, I’m going to have to wait until after my first real book signing to figure out if it will be worth it.

Started looking into science fiction conventions. If I paid for a vendor table, on average I’d have to sell 80-100 books just to break even. And I’d have to be able to not only pay for the table, but also pay for the books up front. Maybe I’ll just shoot for trying to get a guest spot as a reader? Or maybe I’m looking at the wrong conventions!